A week after hiring a Bills executive to fill their vacant general manager position, the New York Giants went back to Buffalo to find their next head coach.
“My immediate goal is to assemble a coaching staff — a strong staff that emphasizes teaching and collaboration and making sure our players are put in the position to be their best and, ultimately, to win games,” Daboll said in a statement. “That’s why all of us do this. To teach, to be successful, to develop talent, and to win. I have a pretty good idea where our fan base’s feelings are right now, and I get it. I promise we will work our tails off to put a team on the field that you will be proud to support and give us the results we all want.”
Friday’s move comes a week after the Giants hired former Bills assistant GM Joe Schoen to become their new general manager. Schoen’s decision appeared to have come down to Daboll, Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier or Brian Flores, the recently fired coach of the Miami Dolphins. Many within the league believed it ultimately would be a decision between Daboll and Flores, and that the close relationship between Daboll and Schoen could be the determining factor.
Co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch performed a housecleaning following another disappointing season, dismissing Judge after Dave Gettleman retired as the Giants’ general manager. There were reports late in the regular season that Judge was expected to be retained. But that changed when the Giants ended the season on a six-game losing streak and Judge had a series of missteps, including an 11-minute postgame rant and a curious third-and-nine quarterback-sneak play call in the season finale against Washington.
The Giants became the third team to fill its coaching vacancy this week, with the Bears hiring Matt Eberflus and Broncos choosing Nathaniel Hackett on Thursday. Six teams still have openings, with more hires expected in the two weeks between Sunday’s conference championship games and the Super Bowl on Feb. 13.
Daboll succeeds Judge, who was fired Jan. 11 after the team struggled through a 4-13 season. Judge, who had a 10-23 record over two years, was the third consecutive Giants coach to be fired after two seasons or less, following Pat Shurmur and Ben McAdoo.
Flores remains out of a job after being fired by the Dolphins following two straight winning seasons. The NFL still has only one Black active head coach, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mike Tomlin. The league’s diversity efforts are producing disappointing results again in the early stages of this hiring cycle for head coaches. The NFL had three Black head coaches this season but Flores was fired by the Dolphins and David Culley was dismissed by the Houston Texans.
“We interviewed several people who are incredible coaches and all of whom are going to enjoy much more success in this league in their current positions and as a head coach,” Schoen said in a statement. “With that said, we — me and ownership — all felt Brian is the right person to serve as our head coach.”